People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1895 — Page 1

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VOL. IV.

PAPER BY H. J. KANNAL.

f “The Veterinarian and His Relation to the Farmer,” Read Before \ TOE JASPER COL'NTT FARMERS' INSTITUTE ‘ Meld at the Court House in RensseV. laer, Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 30 and 31, 1393. FULL OF HISTORICAL INTEREST. [ ' ’ « i In the Art Gallery of the late ‘Columbian Exposition, where ; the muses held their court and | were treated in stone, bronze and oil, theie was one statue i more wierd, more impressive ’ and more startling than all. pThe Hippocenteur—half man liand half horse. It faced a main entrance [through which surged the popjulace for several months. From [.many, it received scarce a glance. I Some looked and. smiled, oth’ers frowned. But as the eyes of the intelligent student of mythology swept its massive 'outline and his mind conjured up the physical and mental possibilities of the combination, the profoundness of the old ■Grecian philosopher transfixed and startled him. |a It is the commonest figure in i 'Grecian art. The Athenian master made it his triumph. It 5 was the inspiration of the novice, *lhe embodiment of a strange - fable, you may say, the result of ideal fancy or barbaric imagination. No, ladies and gentlemen, i <Grecian art is too comprehen- ■ .sive. Mythology is not crude, >but profound. Its figures which have been carried down through ages and embodied in ‘ stone, in painting and in song, ;are not the result of ideal fancy, (fcbut are the result of philosophic ,;and penetrating minds. These • old philosophers recognized the uhorse as man’s best friend, and • the fibst subjugation of nature ; and nature’s forces they ascribed to a combination of the. two — hence the figure. The combined efforts of all the writers and orators of the century could not pay a grander tribute or draw a more impres•sive delineation of the mutual • dependence, the mutual fealty, ,• existing between man and horse. •Of marvelous fertility were the ’minds of this race. They were .skiliedin the art and the sci- • ences, and practiced medicine >with marvelous results. A descendant of the race, Chir'on of Thessaly, achieved a reputation for the successful treatment of various ailments of equines, that was limited by the then existing bounds of civilization. Tradition states, and is supported indisputably by the historical records we have of that time, that journeyed to Chiron and induced shim to become his tutor. Therefore the founder of the modern school of medicine, the patron saint of our brother M. D., had for his preceptor a Veterinarian, j Ladies and gentlemen, we

claim priority; we are the originators, the fountain head of the science of application of remedial agents for the alleviation of disease. Following Chiron of Thessaly, came Erictheus, a young Greek, who achieved considerable reputation dn the treatment of, equim disorders, Xenophon, Limonides, of Athens, Varro, Columella, others were students of the art of practitioners and authors who have left us records of their experiences. Magus, a Carthagenian, about 400 years B. C., collected, recompiled and published their works in twentyeight volumes. Hippocrates, who lived about this time, is considered the ablest of early authors, and is to-day referred to as the father of medicine. He devoted his works equally man and horse, and it may be a matter of interest to some to know that the literal meaning of his name is horse force. Really it is a matter of difficulty to separate the early history of the medical profession from man’s best friend. Three hundred years after Christ, the works bf previous authors were again revised by Vegetius, another Greek disciple

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of Chiron. The decline of Athens and the social and intellectual supremacy of Rome which followed, naturally transported the profession westward, and proud and honored was the position occupied by the veterinarian. His rank in the Roman army was recognized and the foremost titles and honors of the land were conferred upon him. Not in Rome alone whs the veterinarian appreciated, the Merovingian kings of France conferred upon their veterinarians the highest rank in the land, viz: that of “Constable, - ’ -while the Normans conferred that of

“Marshal.” There accompanied William I to England, a family highly skilled in the healing art as applied to the equine, and he held them in such appreciation as to create for them the present title of “Farriers.” But henceforth for several hundred years the horizon of the veterinary profession assumed a very sombre tint. No sparkling star of intelligence served to illuminate its background. It seemed as if the mass of superstitious rubbish which had attracted itself to it like barnacles, would eventually ungulf it. But the good endureth, and Phoenixlike, out of ashes of ignorance and superstition the profession has once more sprung with advancing steps, greater than ever displayed by any other, until once more, to-day it holds in the minds-of the intelligent portion of the public, the proud position it occupied in the days of Aristotle and Alexander. I submit to you, gentleman: Can the public, in the .face of so old and honored a history, apply to a profession, so noble in its imports and designs, the disapprobative term of “a horse doctor”? Mythology, tradition, legend, history, past and present, and the prophicies of the future, lead in a manner which cannot fail to impress the bluntest perceptions with the grand mutual co-operative obligation existing between man and- horse, their inseparable fealty and mutual dependence.

“If God created man, the horse was created next to him,” said William I, as he viewed the bloody field of Hastings; the victory being due to his Norman horsemen. “Gone to the dogs,” is a very common expression and w’e will admit that men have gone there; but the fact is self evident that the dog has not become contaminated by the association, but remains to-day, the personification of courage, faithfulness, sterling integrity and honor.

But what of the present and future of the veterinarian? In all European countries the veterinary colleges are supported and controlled by the government, and rank equally with their medical universities. Their graduates are given positions of importance in the army, on health boards. England ranks her veternarinans as colonels, majors and captains, an example followed by France and Germany. Our government, I am sorry to say, has been negligent in this matter, and it is to be regretted that the veterinarian has not been accorded the recognition he is deserving of. Prevention of disease and protection of human life are far more important than the treatment of disease. Nearly all contagious diseases are transmissable from animal to man, and here the veterinarian stands as a safe-guard to public health, seeking out, isolating and checking the ravages of disorders of the most dangerous types. Legislative action is now being taken by several of the states aiming at complete and thorough veterinary inspection of all animal food and dairy products, so that without encroaching upon the honored position of the physician as the alleviator of disease, we will still be given opportunity to demonstrate our ability as preventers. The late Mr. Charles Darwin .in his great work, “The Descent of Man,” delineates with wonderful accuracy the similarities of many of the attributes, actions, fancies, lives and dispositions of man and the brute creation. Sympathy and its twin brother, the humanitarian sentiment, are in his opinion, the highest

RENSSELAER, IND., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2. 1895.

I attributes of the human family, that which chiefly distinguishes us from the lower animals. If this be so, let us cultivate, cher- | ish and guard religiously the i attribute, and as civilization and the race advances we can confidently look forward to the time when the sick and injured animal will be treated with the same care and by as intelligent physicians as the sick man. Twenty millions of dollars is a low estimate of the value of live stock in this country. In fact it is a matter of great difficulty for the mind to comprehend the vast amount of money the people of this country have invested in this interest. The men controlling most of this vast wealth are the farmers. You are the ones most interested in the work of the veterinarian.

If some devastating plague or contagious disease breaks out in your herd it may not only cause the loss of many valuable animals, but it injures the market value of those remaining. You all know the market value of a beef affected with act inomycosis (or lumpy-jaw). And are you aware-that many cases of the dreaded disease consumption are caused by the use of milk from cows affected with tuberculosis. How many of you can say that your own herd of milk cows are free from this disease, as it may be present and the animal seem in perfect health. The farmers should put their shoulder to the load and give their united support to the framing of laws to rid the United States of such dangerous diseases. The Veterinarian can’t accomplish this without your aid. The Bureau of Animal Industry protects you in foreign markets by placing at all packinghouses, veterinary inspectors, but how about the meat and dairy products sold in towns the size of Rensselaer. No one guards against the sale of diseased meat or dairy products im cities of less than 10,000 inhabitants. You are the breeders and sellers of these products and it rests to a great extent with you to remedy this danger to human life. The veterinarian must have your support to gain the desired end.

From an aspect purely financial, irrespective of any human duties, the men who guard this vast wealth from dangerous and devasting plagues and diseases, as well as ministers to the animal scientifically, should have youi’ respectful assistance in all movements directed toward your own and the public’s benefit.

The Story of a Campaign.

Willis J. Abbot, the political editor of the Chicago Times, who is recognized by his fellow journalists as one of the ablest and cleverest political writers in the country, whether, one is in sympathy with his views or not, tells the story of the populist campaign in Chicago in the Arena for February. Mr. Abbot had the advantage all through the campaigb of last autumn of being in touch with the leaders of the different elements that are gradually forming a new party, with new social and economic aims in American politics, and his paper has value for all those who want to get at the facts regardless of dominating prejudices. Even the opponents of every sort of change in the political phases of the country should study this paper, in order to estimate the potency of this new political sentiment that is in the air—and is not peculiar to America, but is seizing upon the heart and brain of the whole great western world.

It may not be generally known that Rensselaer has the metropolitan convenience, a professional chiropodist. But such is the case, and his name is Dr. Wm. H. Babb, and if you have any doubts of his ability to painlessly extract corns, bunions, ingrowing toe nails and other peculiarities of the f£et, command his services. This notice is written in a spirit of forgiveness and published without charge, prompted by a superabundance of gratitude, the attaches of this office having paid cash for the professional services rendered by the worthy doctor. Albert Overton visited friends in Battle Ground, last Sunday.

PROF. A. H. PURDUE,

Principal of tire Rentt><dacr High School, Presen U a Thoroughly Interesting; SCIENTIFIC PAPER IN COMMON WORDS, ! That is of Inestimable Vain*? to the Bro’iressire Farmer Who ised Both Brain ana Brawn. “ORIGIN OF SOIL.” To those who are interested in the greatest possible development of the natural resources of our state, the movement on foot to improve its present methods of farming and all that pertains thereto, is extremely gratifying. In a very large degree’ the present prosperity of our country as well as its future condition. depends upon the manner in which farming is carried on. The mines yield to man their rich treasures of both the preprecious and the useful metals, the seas in abundance producer their fishes, but the race alwayshas. and of necessity always will, depend for its existence and. progress in civilization mainly upon the products of the soil. The soil produces plants which the animal feeds upon, and man depends for food, clothing, and shelter upon both plants and animals. The clothing upon our bodies, the shoes upon our feet: the shingles* of the roof, the brick of the hearth; the bread upon the table, and the plates we eat from; all these and. , thousands of other things, cornel either directly or indirectly from the soil. What a heritage the ( soil is to us, and how it devolves! upon us to see to it that the wanton manner in which it has in many cases been thoughtlessly destroyed by our fathers be, .substituted by such methods’ bf agriculture as I will constantly improve it! The most comprehensive! knowledge, of the treatment of soils, whether it be to cause them to yield their largest crops or for their preservation, includes some notion at least, of their origin. ‘ This is the apology I offer, if any is necessary, for addressing yon as farmers upon the subject of origin and nature of soils.

The term soil as I shall use it includes all that portion of the land areas that is not solid rock. It will readily be seen that in this sense it embraces a great variety of material, such as sand, clay, hardpan, etc. As you know, these materials at their greatest depth reach only a few hundred feet from its surface; and when we consider the great size of the earth, we readily see that the soil forms only a thin covering of the continents. But however small the amount of soil as compared with the solid portion of the earth, it is found almost everywhere on land areas. Small surfaces exposed to stormy winds or swift waters are sometimes destitute of soil, as are. also steep mountain slopes and limited areas from which moving ice has scraped it away. Because of the fact that the soil is so widely distributed, it usually escapes our notice except when we happen in those localities when there is none of it to be seen.

This universal distribution of the soil is no matter of chance, nor has it always existed as we now know it. or come into this existence by any agency acting suddenly, but is the result of thousands, nay I may say millions of years, bf the slow but sure work of many of nature's forces. With the exception of the relatively small amount of material produced from the decay of plants and animals, all soil material has originated from the breaking up of rook. Granting this to be true, it is plain that the chrracter of the soil, (that is whether it is sandy, clayey, or limey, etc.) of any locality, depends upon the kind of rock from which ’it was formed. Sandstone alone, when disintegrated, forms a sandy soil; limestone a limey soil; shales a clayey soil. We often find beds of sandstone and limestone overlying each other. In cases of this kind the disintegration of both together, forms a mixed soil of lime and sand. Beds of

sandstone, limestone, and shale, may overlie each other on a | hillside and disintegrate and be carried to the low ground below’, forming a mixed soil of lime, sand, aiid clay. Without stopping to consider how* the vast amount and great variety of rock of the continents was formed and came to be where it is, let us take it as we find it. and proceed to notice some of the ways in which it has been, and is being, changed from its solid form to tillable land. You have all observed in passing through railroad cuts, in digging wells and cellars, and in making other excavations, that there is often a gradual transition from the soil at the top, | through rotten, broken rock that can be easily worked with the pick and shovel, to hard rock beneath. Frequently in such cases as this a careful examination will show* without doubt that what is now soil was once stone, ami that the soil has been produced by the rotting, so to speak, of the stone. Observation will also prove to us that in such cases the process of soil formation is not only a thing of the past, but that it is now slowly but none the less surely going on.

In cases of this kind, if the rock lies in such a position as not to permit of “washing,” the soil remains where it was ormed; but if the rock be on a •slope, the soil is, liable to be carried away by the rains as fast as formed, to the bottom lands below’, or to streams, by which it may be. earned long distances oeiore it is dropped. In this •vay/“the flood plains of our rivers, both large and small, are composed of material brought logetheß from very distant parts. For example, any acre of land inlndiana subject to the annual overflow or the Ohio river, may be, and doubtless is, composed of material from Kenlucky, Ohio, West Virgiipaj;and Pennsylvania. Likewise. * the soil at New* Orleans, La., is composed of material from every state and territory between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains, brought down by the Mississippi and its tributaries. Remembering what was said above, we see that the soil at New’ Orlesns originated from the rocks of Montana, Colorado, Tennessee, New York, and all the other states of the Mississippi Valley. The process of the slow decomposition of rock can be seen also in old stone quarries that have for a long time been abandoned. in the foundations of bmildmgs, stone steps, steep cliffs, in fact in all places where rock is exposed to the w’eather. This decay is sometimes comparatively rapid, and sometimes very slow, depending largely upon the character of the stone, but it is only a question of time when the most durable stone, exposed to the W’eather. will be broken up and scattered as the sands of the sea.

But it is not alone by the process of “rotting” that sriones are changed to soil. Though this immediate locality is not a fitplace for observing it, none of you have failed to notice in other ' localities where the streams are swifter than here, the large amount of gravel earned by thestreams. This gravel, whici now has round. smooth surfaces, consisted of angular pieces o’’ stone. When picked up by the water, these sharp cornerea pieces of stone have teen robed along the bed of the stream and knocked against each other until their corners have worn off to the present form. Much of this gravel will coiitin-; ue to wear till it finally entirely, disappears. Meanwhile, each' grain of sand, as it is worn from the pebble, is picked up by the stream and carried to quiet water somewhere along its course and dropped, where it contributes its mite to the formation of soil, when we consider the great amount of this kind of work almost everywhere being done by streams, we realize that the quantity of soil each year produced in this way must be enormous; and when we remembered that this work has continued through the tens of thousands of years that have oas»sed, we must admit that a very- large portion oX our soil has been

j formed by the grinding up of rock by streams. Another manner in which rock is worn away, though of little importance in this locality, is by wind action. This is noth; able in the western states where there are strong winds and but | little vegetation to bold the sand. In such places the strong winds pick up the loose sand and dash it with great force against the exposed faces of rocks and cliffs, in that way rapidly wearing them off. This, continued through past ages has had much to do with producing the western soils. Let us consider another agen cy. formerly very active in this locality, by which rock is ground to sand. viz., thegla-iei In any region where more snov. falls during the winter than melts dur : ng the summer season, there is necessarially an accuinu kition of that material. Bach year it becomes deeper, and would eventually read) a very great, height, did not the force of gravity, acting upon it as up on all other matter, pull it down to a lower level. As each year’s snowfall adds its weight to the hignest part, the pressure from that point in all directions pro duces an actual, though slow movement of the snow (which has become compressed into ice) from the high level to a lower one. This moving body of ice,, we call a glacier. It is plain to be seen that a mass of ice of very great depth, moving in this way. would act as a scraper, and gather up all loose material along its route, such as soil, gravel and loose stone, and would shove this material along in front of, and beneath it. The material at the base of the ice, consisting of angular stones, gravel, sand, etc., in passingover beds of rocks, would wear them off and grind them into sand. This sand would be pushed along with the bowlders, gravel, and other debris, to the edge of the glacier where all of the maiferiai.would b.e dropped by th** mel|jhg Ice. i. The deposition of material along the edge of the glacier, continued througn a long period of time, would result in a ridge. An example of this kind of work is seen in the ridge which runs in a north easterly direction across Jasper county a mile and a half north of this place. While the glacier is building up at one place, it is scooping out in another, in that way producing depressions, which after its disappearance becomes swamps and lakes. Now it is known that during a former period of the earth’s history. a large body of ice with one of its centeres north of the Great Lakes, covered a large portion of North America. From its centre this body of ice moved southward, covering Michigan, a large portion of Ohio, must of Indiana and Illinois, much of the territory west of the Mississippi, and New York and the New England states. In places, this great ice sea is said to have been two miles thick. It doubtless continued for a vdry long time, so that the rock beneath, in man y places, may have had hundreds of feet worn off. Evidence of this wearing is found in different parts of Jaspercounty, where the surface of the rock is worn off smooth, and is as level as a floor. It is not at all improbable that a large portion of the sand of this locality owes its origin to this grinding away of the rock during the glacial period. As the ice melted and disappeared. the rock and other material with which it was loaded, were dropped and left scattered nwer the surface. This, as you Imow. accounts for the great number of boulders in parts of this county and the state. These boulders disintergating, add their material to the soil. It is thus seen that glaciers, as well -is rivers, are great agents in the distribution of soil material to distant parts. Another agent in rock disintgeneration is frost. Every one knows that the expansive force of water in freezing is very great. A small amount of water left in a strong iron pipe, will in freezing. burst it. All rock is more or l°ss porous, and sn contains water. This water, in freezing, will break the rock up. It may be that only a very small portion of the outside will be broken off

(Cvntiuu«J «*u Eighth Pugc.)

NUMBEH'33.